As a representative effective human hand massage method, there is a kneading method which is referred to as a linear petrissage. This is hand massage where a thumb is linearly moved with respect to muscle fibers while pressure is applied to a site to be treated with the thumb, and stiffness is relieved.
As an apparatus that implements a kneading method similar to the linear petrissage by use of air bags for massage, for example, a massage apparatus described in PTL 1 is known. The massage apparatus described in PTL 1 includes a movable support plate that is mounted on a base member of an apparatus body, and is capable of advancing and retreating forward and backward toward a shoulder of a user, a pair of sandwiching support plates that is provided in the movable support plate, and is capable of advancing and retreating toward the back of the right and left lateral sections of a neck of the user, and acupressure members that protrude from the respective sandwiching support plates. Additionally, the apparatus includes a first air bag that is disposed between the base member and the movable support plate, a second air bag disposed between the movable support plate and the sandwiching support plates, an air supply and discharge means for supplying and discharging air to and from the respective air bags, and a control means for controlling operation of the air supply and discharge means. In this massage apparatus, the control means controls the air supply and discharge means, supplies air to the first air bag during time T1, and thereafter supplies air to the second air bag while discharging the air of the first air bag during time T2. The first air bag expands, so that the acupressure members press shoulder near a base of the neck of the user. Additionally, the air of the first air bag is discharged, and the air is supplied to the second air bag, so that the acupressure members move toward a head of the user while pressing the back of the lateral sections of the neck of the user. Thus, the massage apparatus described in PTL 1 employs a method for attaining the kneading method similar to the linear petrissage by controlling supply and discharge of the first air bag and the second air bag in accordance with a predetermined order.
As a treatment apparatus using air bags, a massage apparatus described in PTL 2 is known. In the massage apparatus, a pair of second air bags for pressing scapulae is partially overlapped with a first air bag for pressing a backbone, and the pair of second air bags is expanded, and thereafter the first air bag is expanded, so that the second air bags overlapped on the first air bag move right and left. Consequently, the massage apparatus can operate so as to open intercostal muscle of a user.
In addition, as a massage apparatus that aims simplification and cost reduction of an air sending system coupled to air bags, a massage apparatus described in PTL 3 is known. In the massage apparatus, two air bags having the same size are coupled so as to be overlapped with each other by use of a coupling means, and are communicated with each other through the coupling means, air is supplied and discharged by an intake/exhaust port provided in one of the air bags, so that it is possible to attain expansion and contraction of the two air bags.